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A story of self-obsession narrated by the point of view of a psychiatrist, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time.

As a psychiatrist in a top-security mental hospital in the 1950s, Peter Cleave has made a study of what he calls ´the catastrophic love affair characterized by sexual obsession.´ His experience is extensive, and he is never surprised. Until, that is, he comes reluctantly to accept that the wife of one of his colleagues has embarked on such an affair...

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McGrath, Patrick
Patrick McGrath is the author of two story collections and eight novels, including Asylum, which was an international bestseller. His novels have been widely translated, and he is also the author of Ghost Town: Tales of Manhattan Then and Now, a collection of novellas. Trauma was shortlisted in the UK for the Costa Novel Award. Spider was filmed by David Cronenberg from McGrath´s adaptation. Constance, his most recent novel, was published in 2013. He coedited an influential anthology of short fiction, The New Gothic, and recent nonfiction includes introductions to The Monk, Moby Dick and Barnaby Rudge. Patrick McGrath lives in Manhattan and London.

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